Cover Story - 70
So special thanks, even more so than usual, go to my publisher Lynne Drew and agent Doug Kean, who both bore my lengthy and tedious plot wrangling with stupendous fortitude. It paid off later, I hope, but my God, I was a high maintenance pain in the arse. Thanks both for your humour, positivity, enc...
So special thanks, even more so than usual, go to my publisher Lynne Drew and agent Doug Kean, who both bore my lengthy and tedious plot wrangling with stupendous fortitude. It paid off later, I hope, but my God, I was a high maintenance pain in the arse. Thanks both for your humour, positivity, encouragement, calm, and bright ideas. And your faith.
Assistant Editor Olivia Robertshaw thank you, you are a pleasure to work with and endlessly patient in the face of my ‘whoops and also’ requests. And thanks once again to the whole HarperCollins team for turning my sketchy ideas into a beautiful thing.
Praise as always to my trusted first draft readers – Tara, Katie, Kristy, Sean, my sister Laura – who say, ‘more please’ and reassure me it’s not a stone-cold career ender.
Thank you to my friend Helen for grasping the ins and outs of Ring Video and its theoretical theft. Glad one of us paid attention at school.
I’m further very grateful to journalist Maeve McClenaghan, who answered many of my dumbest, most basic questions about the practicalities of working the investigations beat. Any errors and all wild flights of fancy in this fiction regarding the realities and mechanics of the job are mine, but it was so useful as a grounding. (Oh and also I’m confident your office environment is pleasant, and not a Slough House.)
Gratitude also goes to author Emily Henry, whose ‘fist squeezing my heart’ analogy I pinched, and for her huge generosity towards me in general.
Fellow writers/authors/booksellers/publishing people who I speak to regularly, usually via social media and often via memes – you all know who you are – thank you for being one of the most supportive, witty and friendly communities anyone could hope to be part of. Writing can be lonely, and riddled with insecurity, and you fix that.
And thank you to the readers and the gift of your valuable time. Every time I start a first draft, I’m so excited to think I will eventually get to share the story with you. If that ever changes, I will do something else.